What Can Be Patented And Cannot Be Patented In India?

Posted on: 2017-02-11 04:24:31

Brought up first in the year of 1856, the Patent Law in India permitted new manufacturers to a certain set of privileges for a period of up to 14 years. From then onwards, new laws were introduced, amended, repealed and rest still in effect. Interestingly, the Indian parliament has failed to define the term “Patent,” leading to an ambiguous understanding in people. Consequently, this failure of providing the definition in the Indian Patent Act was largely criticized.

To be very clear from the start, it is almost impossible to distinctively identify what and what cannot be patented. However, there are specific mentions in the law that doesn’t permit patentability to a so-called invention. Let us proceed steadily on what’s what about patentability in India.

Definition of patent

An inventor of a process, product or solution receives the exclusive rights for his/her invention for a specific period of time from a sovereign state. During this period, it protects the invention from being used, manufactured or sold as it violates the rules of a patent.

Patentable entities in India

An invention can be brought in for patent registration under the Indian Patent Law only if it qualifies certain criteria, in terms of its novelty, inventive step and industrial applicability. As mentioned in several articles also, these three terms are the basis for granting an invention a patent status.

Further defining them in simple terms:

Novelty or New – Nowhere an “invention” would be considered for the exclusive rights of a patent if it has already been in the public domain or included in any publication worldwide. Complete novelty is the first criteria and the invention has to qualify this for being accepted for a patent status.

Inventive step – It encompasses two conditions: The first that the invention adds a feature to the already existing knowledge of techniques and has economical significance or both. Second, it shouldn’t be an obvious thing for a person who is skilled in the art.

Applicability – It should have an industrial applicability.

Now that we have explained in the above, we would also like to add that these definitions are also quite contested in the court of law. Therefore, people should hire legal help to manage with these matters.

Non-patentable entities in India

Here again, there is a list of exclusions that doesn’t allow an invention to get patented. The following briefly points out the scope of non-patentability:

Any frivolous idea that stands opposite to the established laws of nature and public health cannot be granted a Patent status.

Any invention that proves fatal or detrimental for human, plant or animal life cannot be considered for patentability.

Machines, which can be arranged and rearranged individually, run in a new way cannot be acceptable as an invention.

An invention from the traditional knowledge, which already has been known in any form cannot receive the status of patentability.